EXPERIENCE OF BEING AN ETHNIC RETURNEE: RETURN MOTIVATIONS, POST-RETURN LIFE AND TRANSNATIONALISM OF KAZAKH REPATRIATES

Abstract

This thesis explores the experience of being an ethnic returnee, an individual “returning” to the land where their ancestors had once migrated from. Return motivations, post-return experiences, and transnational connections of Kazakh returnees are a vastly under-researched area in the return migration literature. This thesis aims to answer three research questions: what were the return motivations of Kazakh returnees migrating from Russia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and China; why do returnees experience disappointment about moving to Kazakhstan; and how does post-return transnationalism influence their life at the cultural homeland? The data draws on 20 semi-structured interviews conducted online due to COVID-19 restrictions. The findings indicate that returnees are driven to migrate to Kazakhstan because of challenges in their host countries, but after arrival they experience linguistic difficulties, economic insecurity, corruption, and negative attitudes from the local community. Such experiences produced feelings of disappointment about their homecoming, which turns into feelings of not belonging to one's ethnic homeland, Kazakhstan. In addition, the results indicate that regardless of Kazakh returnees’ countries of origin, their post-return transnational ties with families and friends who were left behind help Kazakh returnees to cope with feelings of disappointment about homecoming